3 ms·

While neither azithromycin nor hydroxychloroquine are primarily thought of as anti-virals, both are hypothesized by some to have some anti-viral effect, and it'

by gojomo 6y ago

While neither azithromycin nor hydroxychloroquine are primarily thought of as anti-virals, both are hypothesized by some to have some anti-viral effect, and it's still unclear whether any potential effects they have on Covid-19 are via such anti-viral effects, or other effects.

azinman2 6y ago
Just because something helps with issues created by a virus doesn’t make it an anti-viral. For example it seems to be now that steroids are aiding those in the ICU with covid, but I don’t think anyone could plausibly call a steroid an anti-viral, as much as a bandaid can’t be called an antibiotic even if it helps heal a cut and prevent additional bacterial infection.
- gojomo 6y ago
  True, but if you look in the literature, you will find both of these compounds referred to as having some anti-viral effects, and their hypothesized mechanism(s) against Covid-19 may involve those effects. For example, in <https://www.clinicalmicrobiologyandinfection.com/article/S1198-743X(20)30293-7/fulltext> https://www.clinicalmicrobiologyandinfection.com/article/S11..., even though the study concludes other anti-virals are better, we see the footnoted, uncontroversial claim: "The antiviral properties of CQ were first explored against viral hepatitis as far back as 1963 [1]. Since then many observations from in vitro and animal experiments have suggested a beneficial role of HCQ and CQ in viral infections [2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13]." There are of course hundreds more such authoritative references to observed anti-viral activity. Or regarding Azithromycin (AZM) in <https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7290142/> https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7290142/>, we see: "It has been shown that AZM has significant antiviral properties. In contrast with CQ or HCQ, its antiviral activity has been shown in vitro and/or in vivo on a large panel of viruses: Ebola, Zika, respiratory syncytial virus, influenzae H1N1 virus, enterovirus, and rhinovirus [4–13]. Its activity against respiratory syncytial virus has been demonstrated in a randomized study in infants [10]. Azithromycin exhibited a synergistic antiviral effect against SARS-CoV-2 when combined with HCQ both in vitro [11] and in a clinical setting [13]." That HCQ is mainly known as an antimalarial doesn't refute that it has, and is often tried for, antiviral effects. That AZM is mainly known as an antibiotic doesn't refute that it has shown broad antiviral effects as well. (If you're stuck on 'antiviral' as some binary category, or mutually-exclusive with other categories, you're going to miss all the interesting incremental effects in real chemistry/biology. That sort of "sharply-bounded categories" thinking has killed a lot of people recently, as with those insistent on 'droplets vs aerosols' instead of a continuum including every size/variant of both.)

by gojomo 6y ago

azinman2 6y ago

Just because something helps with issues created by a virus doesn’t make it an anti-viral. For example it seems to be now that steroids are aiding those in the ICU with covid, but I don’t think anyone could plausibly call a steroid an anti-viral, as much as a bandaid can’t be called an antibiotic even if it helps heal a cut and prevent additional bacterial infection.

gojomo 6y ago
True, but if you look in the literature, you will find both of these compounds referred to as having some anti-viral effects, and their hypothesized mechanism(s) against Covid-19 may involve those effects. For example, in <https://www.clinicalmicrobiologyandinfection.com/article/S1198-743X(20)30293-7/fulltext> https://www.clinicalmicrobiologyandinfection.com/article/S11..., even though the study concludes other anti-virals are better, we see the footnoted, uncontroversial claim: "The antiviral properties of CQ were first explored against viral hepatitis as far back as 1963 [1]. Since then many observations from in vitro and animal experiments have suggested a beneficial role of HCQ and CQ in viral infections [2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13]." There are of course hundreds more such authoritative references to observed anti-viral activity. Or regarding Azithromycin (AZM) in <https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7290142/> https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7290142/>, we see: "It has been shown that AZM has significant antiviral properties. In contrast with CQ or HCQ, its antiviral activity has been shown in vitro and/or in vivo on a large panel of viruses: Ebola, Zika, respiratory syncytial virus, influenzae H1N1 virus, enterovirus, and rhinovirus [4–13]. Its activity against respiratory syncytial virus has been demonstrated in a randomized study in infants [10]. Azithromycin exhibited a synergistic antiviral effect against SARS-CoV-2 when combined with HCQ both in vitro [11] and in a clinical setting [13]." That HCQ is mainly known as an antimalarial doesn't refute that it has, and is often tried for, antiviral effects. That AZM is mainly known as an antibiotic doesn't refute that it has shown broad antiviral effects as well. (If you're stuck on 'antiviral' as some binary category, or mutually-exclusive with other categories, you're going to miss all the interesting incremental effects in real chemistry/biology. That sort of "sharply-bounded categories" thinking has killed a lot of people recently, as with those insistent on 'droplets vs aerosols' instead of a continuum including every size/variant of both.)